The build up for this little outing is getting pretty awesome. Haha. Art as my trail guide I'm perfectly good with your trail selection. Dont worry IE, plenty of time for me to come back and try to follow you around JV. And how dare you doubt my D35.... When I tell it about this it's going to get even stronger.

That's why we want the stuff to get us out of a pickle, so it stays fun. I have 2 nerw balljoints in my garage, just have to dig them out. Funny thing is, you study those lines and a guy in front will spit out a 4 foot boulder right in your path and it changes everything. Some parts of trails change dramatically. We did spooners once at night, then a few months later during the day and it looked the same , after KOH it was an entirely different trail. Some obstacles disappeared and others appeared. On Sledge one of the ledges became pretty much impassable so now you climb an offcamber hillside around it. This lil ledge is now bypassed Now you go this route At that time you still could, but one of my buds, plugged the trail, broke his truss of the rear axle. YJ tried the bypass, could not get up it, had to back down and head back on the trail. Took us almost 2 hours to get the truss back in place and welded back on. By the way, I am looking forward also, will be a barrel of fun.

Good points, after studying chocolate thunder, I get there and the gatekeeper was completely different! I still had an idea of what I was wheeling into though. So the research helps.

Maybe I'll have to take your place on that. So far I the only one in my group with a D35 lol

I'll pass the torch... but you gotta live up to the hype.

Quote:

Originally Posted by yellow_snocone

Speaking of 8.8 what are the some what plans on building it up? Also make sure you take plenty of video and pictures I cant wait to see white lighting kicking butt in JV intense section

Basic cookie cutter build. Detroit, stock axle shafts, whatever gears. I'll probably spring for the Artec bracket kit just for the added strength of the truss, but I'll just be running it with a Metalcloak track bar. No big deal...

Quote:

Originally Posted by kyle_craig

Boring...You'll appreciate the extra strength though.

I'm looking forward to seeing more wheeling pictures!

I'm going to push it to the edge before it's goes. That's for sure. If it survives this JV trip...... another will be planned shortly after. Basically all of my wheeling besides a couple snow runs between now and March are going to be Johnson Valley. It should be a fun winter.

Ok well I just went for a test drive.... and I don't really know what to say. I was fully expecting to not have anything to say and that I could feel no difference because I'm only running 4 Duroflex joints. Along with Clevite's, JJ's and R/C joints. Well I didn't even have to get out the GARAGE to feel the difference. Just letting out the clutch in first and feeling the usual NVH you would feel depending on how smoothly let out the clutch and how many RPM's you fed into the drivetrain felt dramatically different. And by that I mean... smooooooth. Driving around town and down some country roads gave me the same feeling, it felt much smoother over washboard type road surfaces and small potholes. I did notice one thing with my Detroit locker in the rear I could feel the Jeep pitch more when shifting between gears. This is a common characteristic of a Detroit and one I'm used to.... but I could feel it more for some reason. Overall I'm a little bit shocked by the difference in NVH. They also have over 5 degrees more flex available before the joint barrel contacts the link bracket. That is going to help take some strain off my link brackets and give my clevites a bit of a break. I'm anxious to flex it out and see if I'm actually able to bottom them out. I know with a double DF jointed arm there would no chance of bottoming out the joints. It's also nice not having a grease fitting on the joint to contend with, and although not a huge deal, being able to dial in the joint length and only going 180 instead of 360 to orientate the grease fitting is a small plus. And my favorite part.... so clean. Side note..... that was my first test drive since I modified the skid..... Exhaust RATTLED SO BAD it was insane. I don't have the energy to deal with it today.... so on Tuesday (my next day off) I get to pull the skid again. Oh joy.

The build up for this little outing is getting pretty awesome. Haha. Art as my trail guide I'm perfectly good with your trail selection. Dont worry IE, plenty of time for me to come back and try to follow you around JV. And how dare you doubt my D35.... When I tell it about this it's going to get even stronger.

Cougar Buttes's better trails and then Sledge will make a plenty fun day.
Nate trying the Jackhammer Gate keeper would be fun too.
Jack Hammer has basically 3 major obstacles, they are close together, but might be a bit much for white lightning. Sledge has a one tough one for his rig by the plaque, the rest isn't all that bad for his rig if he picks good lines

Glad to hear that about the bushings, I plan on picking up their arms soon. Reading your thread makes me wonder if buying that D44 was a waste of money and that maybe I should've just built the 35.

It's not a waste man, it's more of a waste for me since I built the d35 and now although it treats me well, will inevitably be building a stronger axle. I don't regret it for a minute though, the smiles per dollar I've gotten out of this D35 have been a bargain and the paths I've chosen for my rig have made sense to me at the time. You got a good deal on that D44, if one had popped up around me prior to re-gearing for that price I would have jumped on it also.